Shahram Chiniyan beaten in prison again

Shahram Chiniyan Miandoab (میاندوآب شهرام چینیان ), a Bahai shopkeeper from Tehran who is serving an 8-year sentence in Raja’i Shahr prison, has again been beaten by prison guards and some prisoners from the criminal section of the prison. This follows a letter he wrote to the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khamene’i, complaining about prison conditions. The beating occurred on February 21, and another prisoner, Arash Moqaddam Aslanpour (آرش مقدم اصلان پور), is also reported to have been severely injured when prisoners from the criminal section raided section 10, where he is held. He is described in the Exiles Activist report as a Bahai prisoner, but other sources describe him as a Zoroastrian civic activist.

On September 20, 2014, Shahram Chiniyan Miandoab was beaten by guards because he refused to wear the standard prison uniform when being taken to see a judge.

Mr. Chiniyan was first arrested in March 2009 and released on March 3, 2010, after using his business license as bail. He was sentenced to 70 lashes and 8 years in prison on a charge of insulting Islam, and began serving his sentence, first in Evin prison in Tehran and then in Raja’i Shahr prison, early in March, 2012. On May 28, 2014, he was transferred to section 1 of Raja’i Shahr, where dangerous criminals are kept. He was punished with one week in solitary from June 25 to July 1, and four days in solitary on August 20, following his first beating by prison guards.